Professional Documents
Culture Documents
May 2010
Volunteering –
The Business Case
The benefits of corporate volunteering
programmes in education
Corporate Citizenship
5th Floor Holborn Gate
330 High Holborn
London WC1V 7QG
www.corporate-citizenship.com
May 2010
Volunteering – The Business Case
May 2010
© City of London
PO Box 270, Guildhall
London
EC2P 2EJ
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/economicresearch
Volunteering – The Business Case
Contents
FOREWORD 1
Contents
Executive Summary 2
Key Findings 2
2.1 Introduction 18
2.7 Conclusions 30
3.1 Introduction 34
3.6 Conclusions 37
4.1 Introduction 40
4.4 Conclusions 44
Volunteering – The Business Case
5.1 Introduction 46
5.6 Comparing the Cost of Developing Skills Through Training and Volunteering 53
5.9 Conclusions 57
6. Case studies 59
6.1 Introduction 60
7. Conclusions 83
7.1 Introduction 84
Acknowledgements 88
Foreword
The positive effects of employee volunteering on competencies of staff in areas that are relevant to
the community sector have long been recognised the business. Not only has the research shown that
but there is less understanding of the benefits that all forms of education volunteering can develop
volunteering can bring to a business and exactly staff skills but it also provides evidence as to which
how this happens. volunteering opportunities afford the best
development in each competency area.
Generally it is reputation, staff retention, motivation
and recruitment that are cited as the key benefits. The research is particularly useful in furnishing a
Less commonly mentioned is the effect that detailed breakdown of those skills which can be
volunteering can have on developing staff. developed through volunteering activities, how
they can be developed and to what level.
Notwithstanding a lack of research this benefit was
widely held to exist. Indeed the City of London For itself, the City of London will use this research to
Corporation has worked for a number of years to increase linkages between volunteering and
align our own internal volunteering programme Learning and Development, ensuring that staff
with learning and development, as we believe take advantage of the full range of benefits that
that staff not only have skills to share but also skills community involvement offers.
to gain through volunteering. We also believe that
strong community investment has a strong part to But I hope that this research will also find a wider
play in a successful business. use as a practical tool. Not only does it give
organisations the evidence that they need to
Clearly the premise needed testing and in order integrate volunteering into staff development
to do this the City of London Corporation programmes, but it also provides the tools with
commissioned Corporate Citizenship to undertake which to measure skills growth.
the following research which looks at the impact
of volunteering on employees’ skills and In summmary, this research shows clearly that
competencies. volunteering produces real tangible benefits for
the community, for business and for staff. It helps
We chose to look at employee volunteering in challenge the perception that community
education. Not only is education the area most involvement is a corporate add-on and takes it
supported by City firms but it was also hoped that right to the heart of the business – the people
the research would be of use to the Education and ‘assets’ that firms employ.
Employers Taskforce – an independent charity that
aims to ensure that every school and college has
an effective partnership with employers.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Executive Summary
2
Volunteering – The Business Case
development, they need to manage the process In addition, working to provide structured support
properly. This research underlines the importance for community partners delivers real social benefits
of integrating volunteering activities into to the partner organisation which gains from the
mainstream HR processes of appraisal and advice, guidance, knowledge and experience of
development. the volunteers. This research did not attempt to
outline or assign a financial value to all of these
With regard to the costs involved, it is clear that additional benefits associated with the
employee volunteering programmes can be volunteering experience. These positive returns
delivered for relatively modest costs. Overall, the should also be taken into account when we
research found that among respondent businesses consider the costs and benefits of organising a
the average annual cost to support each volunteering programme.
volunteer involved in an education based activity
in London is £381 per person per annum. This figure Overall we believe the findings described above
comprises the full cost including direct give a strong articulation of the business case for
management costs and all additional costs (for supporting employee volunteering programmes.
example, transport expenses, time out of the
office, volunteering budgets, training etc)
involved in running an effective volunteering Outputs and Next Steps
programme. As well as investigating the business case for
volunteering, this research aimed to produce a
The companies involved in this research are generally applicable and widely accepted
typically investing at least £400 per person per competency matrix and evaluation tool that will
annum to develop relevant skills and allow companies to gather hard data on
competencies in their staff – although data from a competency development achieved through
broader UK survey on training costs suggest that volunteering opportunities.
the typical training spend per employee could be
considerably higher. This figure, however, is only the While the focus of this research was on assessing
cost of a training opportunity and has not factored employer-supported initiatives in education, it was
in the additional support costs such as running a important that the evaluation tool used to assess
learning and development department and the skills and competency development could be
time lost by an employee being out of the applied to a much broader range of volunteering
workforce. With these all taken into account, the activities.
cost would be substantially higher.
Building on Corporate Citizenship’s previous work
Hence, volunteering assignments represent a in this area, and by utilising the advice and
highly cost-effective way to develop certain core guidance of the wide range of experts involved,
competencies. However, the argument in support the research developed an evaluation framework
of employee volunteering does not simply rest on a that is both simple to use and highly effective in
direct cost comparison with other forms of training delivering robust measurement of the
and development. It is important to consider the competencies developed through volunteering.
wider benefits of volunteering as part of a
company’s community investment activities. This We would now encourage other companies to
research has shown that, in addition to developing apply this competency framework and evaluation
new skills, the individual employee benefits from tool to their own activities to assess the positive
improved morale and increased motivation, job impact their volunteers can have – not only on the
satisfaction and commitment to the company, all local community but also on the business itself.
as a direct result of the opportunities afforded by
their volunteering experience.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Key findings
4
Volunteering – The Business Case
1.
Context and Methodology
5
Volunteering – The Business Case
With this in mind, the need to demonstrate the Describe the characteristics of the sixteen
business case for corporate investment in companies participating in the research and
community support has never been more urgent. the nature of the volunteering activities they
The City of London Corporation therefore support.
commissioned Corporate Citizenship to undertake
a research study to:
1.2
Examine the skills and competencies The Research Questions
employees can develop through active
participation in employer supported Over the past ten years, there has been much
volunteering programmes. research into the “business case” for corporate
Investigate the financial value of this process of investment into the local community where a
competency development by contrasting the business operates1. There are at least three
costs of skills gained through volunteering with common themes that tend to emerge when
the costs of other forms of training and describing the business benefits related to
development. corporate responsibility and community
investment:
Develop a tool that companies can use
themselves to evaluate competency Risk management – the way a company
development in the future. discharges its social and environmental
responsibilities in the local community can
The research study draws on the experience of impact on its “licence to operate”.
City-based companies operating in the City of Brand reputation – people’s direct experience
London which offer volunteering opportunities in of the behaviour of a business in its local
education institutions. The focus on volunteering community, which can be a powerful factor
initiatives in the education sector was chosen as a influencing whether or not one feels favourably
focus because previous research undertaken by towards a company.
the City of London “The Impact of City Businesses in
Addressing Social Disadvantage” (March 2008) Impact on staff – it is argued that positive views
shows that this theme is supported by the majority of the business are shaped by the company’s
of large businesses based in the area. Education commitment to community investment
was also chosen as a result of the City of London’s activities, including support for employee
involvement in the research sub-group of the volunteering. A review of some research on this
Education and Employers Taskforce, an topic is discussed in Chapter 3 of this report.
independent charity that aims to ensure that every
school and college has an effective partnership Alongside these themes, there are numerous other
with employers which helps provide young people benefits involved in active community involvement 1
See, for example:
with the inspiration, motivation, knowledge and such as new routes to market and greater Weiser, J. Zadek, S.
“Conversations with
skills they need to achieve their potential. innovation. This research study wanted to move Disbelievers:
beyond these familiar statements of the business Persuading
For the purpose of this research, we were Companies to Address
benefits of corporate responsibility and explores an
Social Challenges”
concerned with all volunteering activities area about which far less is known. (2000) The Ford
Foundation.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
1. 3.
The first step was to gather robust evidence of the The third overarching objective was to produce a
skills and competencies employees can develop generally applicable and widely accepted
through active participation in employer competency matrix comprising the skills relevant to
supported volunteering programmes in education. business that can be developed through
At this stage, we were seeking to answer the volunteering opportunities. This would for the basis
following questions: of an evaluation tool that will allow companies to
gather hard data on competency development
o Which volunteering opportunities in education
achieved by their employee volunteers.
are routinely undertaken by financial service
sector companies in the City of London?
While the focus of this research was on assessing
o Are companies currently assessing the skills and employer supported initiatives in education, it was
competencies that might be developed essential that the evaluation tool used to assess
through these volunteering activities? skills and competency development could be
applied to a much broader range of volunteering
o How do companies define the desirable
activities.
competencies that they look to develop in
their employees?
The research set out to engage with a wide range
o Is there a link between the competencies of companies, HR organisations and volunteering
developed through educational volunteering brokers to inform the development of the
and the competencies companies look to competency matrix and evaluation tool.
develop more broadly among employees? Section 1.5 describes the process by which this
o What aspects of the volunteering programme evaluation framework was developed. For the
are important to developing skills and moment, we look at the characteristics of the
competencies in participants? companies involved in the core part of the
research study.
o Do companies make the experiences gained
from volunteering part of a formal job appraisal
or development review process? 1.3
o What are the broader developmental benefits Participating Companies
associated with volunteering activities?
Sixteen firms were recruited to participate in this
o Is the skills gain observed by the volunteers research study who offer a range of volunteering
themselves corroborated by the views and opportunities in education. These companies are
opinions of their line managers? identified in Table 1.
2.
The second step was to demonstrate the financial
value of this process of competency Table 1
development. In order to achieve this, the Participating companies
research compares the costs of developing skills
Aviva
through volunteering with the costs of developing
Financial Services Authority
these same skills through more traditional forms of
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
training. This required answering the following
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
questions.
BDO LLP
o How does a company benefit from the HSBC
increased skills and competencies that BNY Mellon
employees develop through volunteering Investec
activities? CMS Cameron McKenna
o Are the skills and competencies developed Nomura
through volunteering assignments of relevance Credit Suisse
and value to the companies concerned? Rothschild
Deutsche Bank
o Are the costs of developing these skills and Santander
competencies through volunteering Ernst & Young
significantly different from more traditional Société Générale
approaches to training and development?
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Volunteering – The Business Case
As can be seen, these organisations represent three Section 1.8 at the end of this Chapter provides
business sectors – financial services, law firms and more detail on the main activity of each business
consultancies. In broad terms, the approach to and gives a brief overview of the education
education related volunteering activity undertaken related volunteering activity they support.
by these sixteen firms can be described as follows.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
completing the survey. The results of this aspect of work that Corporate Citizenship had carried out
the research are reported in Chapter 4. with some leading London Benchmarking Group
(LBG)4 members in this area in 20095.
As well as obtaining data from volunteers
themselves, the research team gathered This project worked with a group of nine
corroborating evidence from the line managers of organisations (Barclays, HSBC, L’Oreal, National
these volunteers to gauge an independent Grid, npower, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP,
assessment of the skills gained. The survey Prudential plc, Shell UK and the Zurich Community
instrument used to assess line managers’ opinions is Trust) to develop a consistent way of measuring
shown in Appendix D. the outputs and impacts of their community
investment projects that enabled them to add up
The results of this survey, which was distributed and communicate the results of their whole
between December 2009 and February 2010, are community programme.
also reported in Chapter 4.
A key element of this work was the development of
Another key aim of the research was to a consistent approach to assessing the value of
understand the relative costs to the companies of employee volunteering. This included the
providing the volunteering opportunities for their development of an evaluation tool to assess the
employees. We also wanted to gather data on the results for, and impact upon, employees of
costs to these businesses of developing the same volunteering opportunities across different projects
skills and competencies through more traditional and companies. It is this evaluation tool that
training and development routes. The two surveys formed the basis of the evaluation tool used in this
on cost data were completed by companies research.
between December 2009 and February 2010. The
results of this strand of the research are reported in Some of the key lessons to come out of this original
Chapter 5. project, which were applied to the current
research, were as follows.
The final strand of the data collection process was
the in-depth telephone interviews with the CSR The starting point for assessing the
and HR managers within selected companies to competencies developed through
draw together information for the case studies volunteering assignments must be a
reported in Chapter 6. consideration of the mainstream skills and
competencies companies look to develop
more broadly among employees. To this end,
1.5 the research examined the competency
Developing the Competency frameworks used by a range of leading
Framework and Evaluation Tool companies to steer the learning and 2
These included CIPD,
development of employees across a wide CMI and the City HR
Association
As emphasised in section 1.2, a specific aim of this range of different functions. 3
For example, NCVO,
research study was to create a competency ACEVO, CSV and
In assessing the skills gained through brokerage
matrix and evaluation tool that any company can
volunteering, companies need to move their organisations that help
use to assess the skills and knowledge developed deliver volunteering
focus of evaluation from what they put into
through any employer supported volunteering programmes including
their community activities, to the impact that Business in the
opportunity.
this investment achieves. This shift in emphasis Community, City
Action and
can help to demonstrate the value of the Volunteering England
In order to achieve this, as well as working with the
community programme to the business, as well 4
LBG is the international
CSR and HR practitioners in the sixteen companies standard for
as the broader societal benefits.
already identified, the research team measuring,
incorporated additional expert opinion by In thinking about development gains from benchmarking and
reporting community
engaging with senior representatives from volunteering, it is important to consider some of investment. The LBG
professional bodies in the HR field2 and the broader impacts on the individual in terms group is made up of
more than 120
organisations that represent the voluntary sectors3 of increased self-confidence, pride in the
companies who come
by convening a series of workshops which ensured company and motivation. In addition, it is also together to use and
that the competency framework and evaluation useful to look at wider behavioural impacts develop the model.
5
Making a Difference,
tool would be relevant, meaningful and such as the propensity to undertake Corporate Community
applicable to a broad audience. volunteering again in the future. Investment: A Whole
Programme Approach
to Measuring Results
Thinking on the development of the competency (2009) Corporate
framework and evaluation tool was informed by Citizenship
9
Volunteering – The Business Case
The resulting evaluation tools developed for this The evaluation tool must address two major
research will allow any organisation to: challenges usually associated with assessment
techniques – resources and knowledge. This
Gather robust evidence of the competencies evaluation tool was designed to be simple to
employees can develop through active complete and practical so that filling it in would
participation in employer supported not be time consuming for require any training
volunteering programmes. to do it.
Track how employees engaged in specific
Building on Corporate Citizenship’s previous work,
volunteering assignments develop specific skills
and by responding to the advice and guidance of
in business relevant areas.
those involved in the consultative process, the
Assess the level of the skills gain through a research team has created an evaluation
robust process of assessment by the volunteers framework that is both simple to use and highly
themselves and the line managers to whom effective in delivering robust measurement of the
they report. skills and competencies developed through
Demonstrate the financial value of this process volunteering assignments.
of competency development and skills gain to
the employing organisation. At a minimum this The competency framework and evaluation tool
could involve a cost comparison with was an innovative development, allowing
alternative forms of skills development (e.g. companies to assess the impact of their
internal and external training programmes) but volunteering activities in a way that none of them
could be extended to include a more had done before.
sophisticated cost benefit analysis.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Some companies were concerned that the financial analysis. This section of the report
evaluation tool might not be completed by addresses two specific questions:
volunteers unless it was anonymous. While
o Are the skills and competencies developed
there was no requirement on respondents to
through volunteering assignments of
identify themselves, we did ask if people were
relevance and value to the companies
prepared to be involved in follow-up research;
concerned?
10% of all volunteers gave their name and
contact details. o How do the costs of developing these skills
and competencies through volunteering
The value of providing incentives to complete
compare to more traditional approaches
the survey was discussed by participating
of training and development?
companies. Only one (Aviva) chose to provide
a small incentive – respondents who identified Chapter 6 looks at the in-depth experience of
themselves were entered into a draw to win an a sub-sample of companies involved in the
ipod. However, all the companies involved research by presenting a number of case
received acceptable response rates to the studies that deal with the challenges and
survey from eligible employee volunteers, benefits of employer supported volunteering
therefore it would appear that incentives are programmes.
not necessary to achieve a good response. Finally, Chapter 7 draws together the
Finally, several companies suggested that conclusions from this research study.
using the evaluation tool when designing new
volunteering projects would also be a useful
exercise. Mapping expected outcomes in this 1.8
way can help companies and their community The Companies Involved
partners to identify and agree on project goals in the Research
at the outset, as well as monitoring progress
during the programme and assessing skills The following paragraphs give more detail on the
gained at the end of an assignment. companies that participated in this study and
describe the nature of the education related
volunteering activities they support:
1.7
Results and Analysis Aviva
Aviva is the world’s fifth largest insurance group,
The main body of the report outlines the findings and the largest in the UK. Its main markets are
from the research: Europe, Asia Pacific and the USA, and its key
activities are long-term savings, fund
Chapter 2 looks in detail at the skills and management, and general insurance. Aviva
competencies developed through employs 59,000 people globally, and is
volunteering and considers: headquartered in London, employing 2,050
o The motivations driving people to get people in the City.
involved in volunteering
In 2009, more than 2,300 Aviva employees were
o The skills and competencies developed by
involved in community activity in working time.
different types of volunteering activity.
Aviva has three national volunteering
o The aspects of the volunteering experience programmes, which include the Global Action
which are most important in the skills Plan; working with primary schools on
development process. environmental issues. Other national programmes
include the Citizenship Foundation, which Aviva
Chapter 3 examines wider aspects of the
created by developing teaching modules on
volunteering experience including the impact
citizenship with a focus on economics and finance.
on career development and the influence it
These Citizenship Foundation modules are now
has on employees’ attitudes toward their
delivered by volunteers. The third national
employing organisation.
programme is the Learn and Thrive initiative, which
Chapter 4 considers the corroborating involves educating displaced adults about money
evidence from the line managers’ survey and and benefits.
looks at the results from the “before” and
“after” questionnaires. Aviva was an early pioneer in this research
programme and sent the evaluation tool to all of its
Chapter 5 looks at the data gathered from the
volunteers throughout the UK. This was received
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Volunteering – The Business Case
very positively and the company obtained returns Education related volunteering opportunities in
from almost 400 volunteers. The data relating to London include secondary school student and
those involved in volunteering in education based university student mentoring, as well as rugby
initiatives in London (almost 100 employees) is coaching, and local school enterprise days, where
presented in Appendix A. This is separate from the 11 to 16 year olds undertake business linked
results reported in the main body of this report as activities. Employees at BDO LLP are also
the draft survey used by Aviva was not entirely encouraged to become governors at local
compatible with the later version used by the other schools.
companies.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
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Volunteering – The Business Case
FSA Investec
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is an Investec is an international, specialist banking
independent non-governmental body, given group that provides a range of financial products
statutory powers by the Financial Services and and services to clients in three principal markets
Markets Act 2000. The FSA is a company limited by (the UK, South Africa and Australia). It has 1,200
guarantee and financed by the financial services employees in its London operations, and 30% of
industry. these staff have signed up to volunteer.
Volunteering programmes organised by the FSA The company offers all employees one day per
cover three areas: education, employability and year paid time off to volunteer for one of Investec’s
regeneration. Employees are able to take up to 20 charitable partners, although more can be
days paid leave a year to volunteer, as well as an requested through the individual’s line manager.
additional 7 days for team challenge events. Investec funds and supports five charities – all of
Approximately 20% of the organisation’s 3,000 which are related to education, the environment
workforce are involved in volunteering. or enterprise. There are two initiatives particularly
relevant to this research.
FSA works with Tower Hamlets Education Business
Partnership and focuses its volunteering efforts on Arrival Education runs innovative projects to help
a range of local schools including Cyril Jackson young people engage with education to develop
Primary School, Bishop Challinor Girls School, Holy their life chances. Around 30 Investec volunteers
Family and Tower Hamlets College. Volunteering are involved with two main programmes run by
opportunities range from financial literacy lessons; Arrival, a coaching programme and ‘Success Skills’
reading, maths and computing partners; help with workshops.
CV writing; mentoring young people on work
placement schemes; and supporting Young Morpeth is a school in Tower Hamlets which
Enterprise programmes. Investec has supported over the last five years.
Investec volunteers are involved primarily in a
literacy mentoring programme. Since February
2009 13 volunteers from Investec have been visiting
the school every fortnight for an hour over lunch.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Santander
On the 11th January 2010 Abbey National plc,
which included the Bradford & Bingley savings
business, changed its name to Santander UK plc.
15
Volunteering – The Business Case
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Volunteering – The Business Case
2.
Understanding the Skills Developed
through Volunteering
2.1 Introduction 18
2.7 Conclusions 30
17
Volunteering – The Business Case
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Volunteering – The Business Case
that these studies report the perceptions and volunteering offers the opportunity to enhance
attitudes of those who have an interest in the leadership skills
volunteering programmes – either the Human
89% agreed it helps enhance problem solving
Resources or CSR managers who are responsible
skills
for the initiatives. The current research approach
addresses this criticism by examining directly the 88% agreed it develops decision-making skills
experiences of the volunteers, and corroborating
82% agreed it helps enhance negotiating skills.
these findings with evidence from their line
managers. These groups may have less of a vested
Another well-respected survey, commissioned by
interest in the success or otherwise of the
the Chartered Management Institute in the UK
volunteering programmes.
(CMI, 2006), found that 60% of managers agreed
or strongly agreed that international volunteering
The overwhelming evidence is that participation in
assignments are an effective learning and
volunteering assignments can help employees
development tool. More specifically, this research
develop skills and competencies that are relevant
suggested that managers believe this type of
to the business. Indeed, a recent survey by the Skills
volunteering can develop:
Employability Laboratory found that volunteering is
increasingly being linked to core business strategy
Problem solving skills
in terms of up-skilling employees and boosting
productivity levels (Skills for Employability, 2008). Communication skills
Hence, at this general level, the research evidence A survey by the Institute of Volunteering Research
suggests that volunteering is becoming part of among staff at Barclays Bank (IVR Research
mainstream corporate strategy and the links to Bulletin, 2005) found that managers saw the
skills development are increasingly being made. greatest impacts on their staff in terms of increased
communication and leadership skills, with over 55%
of managers reporting gains in both skills.
2.2.2
Developing specific skills and
competencies Again, the strength of these findings rests on the
robust research methodology which included
Moving from these general findings, it is important focus groups and interviews with both employee
to consider which specific skills volunteering volunteers and staff who had not volunteered.
assignments can help to develop. Research These findings were corroborated by evidence
undertaken via a national telephone survey of from Barclays’ managers and representatives from
1,093 employed adults in the US by Deloitte (2005) the placement organisations that helped
shows that: coordinate the volunteering activities.
93% of those surveyed agreed that One final study is that undertaken in 1998 by
Corporate Citizenship (Tuffrey, 1998). According to
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Volunteering – The Business Case
the research reported in this study, the specific main factors that help ensure an employee
competencies which showed the most volunteer programme is successful at developing
developmental gain were: workplace skills:
Equally importantly, this study found that Full compliance with adult learner theory.
employee involvement is a flexible and effective
method in developing competencies as long as While most of these factors are self-explanatory,
the process itself is managed properly; suitable the last point merits further examination. It is worth
opportunities are identified and the outcomes are considering what we can learn about the
evaluated. This finding resonates strongly with the volunteering experience from established models
results of the current study which shows the of adult learner theory, such as those developed in
importance of understanding two aspects of the the 1970’s by Malcolm Knowles who built on earlier
volunteering experience – both the motivations of theoretical work by John Dewey and Maslow. This
the employee for undertaking the volunteering body of knowledge suggests there are several pre-
assignment and whether the experience of the conditions that are needed for optimal adult
volunteer is captured in a formal assessment learning. In broad terms, these are:
process after the event.
Involvement in the planning and evaluation of
These aspects can have an important influence the learning process
on the effectiveness of the learning process Relevance of the content area to the job or
and are explored in more depth in section 2.3 of one’s personal life
this chapter.
Experiential activities
20
Volunteering – The Business Case
It is important to treat volunteering in the same way The desire to do something different from one’s
a company would treat any other learning and normal work role (cited by 37% of respondents)
development processes. In other words,
The opportunity to develop new skills – this was
volunteering programmes should be given the
considered to be an important factor by one in
same care in design and evaluation of learning
four of the volunteers.
outcomes as other corporate learning and
development programmes.
This is a key finding in itself. It suggests that, even
though the companies involved in the research do
not currently make skills development an explicit
2.3
component of volunteering opportunities, a
Motivations for Volunteering and the
significant minority of their employees who choose
Impact on Job Performance
to participate in these activities do so in order to
develop their skills and competencies.
The main body of this chapter reports the findings
of the current study. The starting point for this
analysis is the motivations for getting involved in
volunteering. The results show that the main driver
for participating in volunteering activities is the
desire to give something back to society. This
should come as no surprise given the nature of
volunteering.
Chart 1
The main motivation for volunteering
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Volunteering – The Business Case
In contrast, among those respondents who felt 8. Planning and organisation (40%)
motivated to volunteer to develop their skills, 9. Decision making (39%)
the proportion of those who agreed that they
are performing better in their job rises to 61%. 10. Problem solving (39%)
In addition, among those whose volunteering 11. Ability to build relationships and networks
activities are part of the appraisal process, 58% (39%).
agree that this experience has helped them
perform better in their job. Finally, it is evident that there are three areas of
skills or competencies that only a small minority of
These findings suggest that the factors motivating respondents believe can be developed through
an individual’s or an organisation’s reasons to volunteering. These are technical or professional
undertake or support volunteering can have an skills; business awareness; and financial skills.
important influence over perceptions of the value
of the experience to an employee’s work role. Cross referencing these results with the
demographic information outlined in Chapter 1, it
Put simply, if people approach volunteering with appears that factors such as age, gender and the
the aim of improving their skills, they are more likely individual’s seniority within the company do not
to report an improvement in their job performance strongly influence the results. In the same way,
as a result of their participation. whether the individual has previous experience of
volunteering or not has very little influence on the
In addition, if companies make the experiences skills they gain from taking part in the specific
gained from volunteering a formal part of the activity they are currently involved in.
appraisal process, employees are more likely to
report the positive impacts on job performance. However, there is one variable that does have a
positive influence on the process of skills
As highlighted by the case studies included in this development. Across the board, among those
report, those companies that make this link at the responding for whom volunteering is part of the
outset of the volunteering assignments are more appraisal process, proportionately more report
successful in ensuring employees draw out the that they have developed the skills and
wider benefits of skills development. competencies identified.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Table 2
Skills developed through volunteering
Influencing & negotiation skills 24.4% 23.2% 32.8% 12.6% 7.0% 525
Planning & organisation skills 30.0% 23.4% 29.3% 11.0% 6.3% 526
Building relationships
and networks 23.5% 27.1% 29.8% 8.7% 10.8% 527
Willingness to continually
improve 24.4% 26.7% 31.4% 9.9% 7.6% 525
and mainstream HR practices reap the rewards as In this section we consider the extent to which
more employees report seeing significant these different types of volunteering activity are
development in the skills they gain through effective in developing specific skills and
volunteering assignments. competencies. A summary of this analysis is
provided in a series of five tables in Appendix E
which give an overview of the skills developed
2.5 through each of these different activities.
Skills Development and
Type of Volunteering
2.5.1
As we saw in Chapter 1, respondents to this survey Reading, language or number partners
were involved in a range of different volunteering
assignments related to educational initiatives. The This type of scheme essentially involves volunteers
top five most common volunteering experiences in working with individual pupils in schools to help
descending order were: them develop their confidence and abilities in
either reading, languages or mathematics.
Reading, language or number partners Reading, language or number partner programme
(38% of respondents were involved in this type involve anything from 30 minutes to one hour
of volunteering activity) classroom contact time per week. In addition,
volunteers spend anything from 30 minutes to
Student mentoring (17%)
2 hours in travel time to and from the school.
Enterprise workshops (11%) Typically these programmes last for 10 to 12 weeks
(per term).
Supporting an education-related
charity (10%)
23
Volunteering – The Business Case
A detailed analysis of the data shows that overall developing many of the skills and competencies
this form of volunteering is appropriate to outlined in Table 2. However, proportionately more
developing many of the skills and competencies volunteers involved in mentoring programmes
under consideration in this research study. In reported skills gain in the following four areas:
particular, respondents report that they found this
type of volunteering activity was helpful in Adaptability and being effective in different
developing skills in two areas: communications; surroundings (62% of mentors experienced
and influencing and negotiating. The following some or significant skills development in this
quotes illustrate the type of development area, compared with 54% of the total sample).
experienced by these volunteers.
Influencing and negotiation skills (53% of
mentors reported skills gains in this area,
“The skill that I have used the most is
compared with 45% of the total sample).
influencing. It is very important to influence
my reading partner in a positive way of the Decision making and exercising judgement
benefits of reading.” (47% of mentors reported skills gains in this area,
compared with 39% of the total sample).
“Communicating with a very different
audience to those in a work context.” Developing skills and ability to help others
improve; and guide and evaluate their
“The Reading Partners scheme helps me to
performance (79% of volunteer mentors
be organised as I need to take time out of
reported skills gains in this area, compared with
my week to prepare and attend once a
64% of the total sample).
week during lunchtime. It challenges me to
be creative and gives me skills to deal with
The observations of volunteers involved in
situations that are new and often
mentoring schemes point to the benefits of this
challenging.”
activity in terms of skills development.
Finally, despite this positive feedback of the
development to be gained through participation “Gaining coaching skills and experience.”
in this type of volunteering activity, it is important to
“Planning and organising sessions
understand the limitations. In particular, a third of
beforehand prior to meetings with my
volunteers in this area reported they had not
student. Understanding the confidentiality
developed team working skills as a result of their
is vital and will help in future for
activities – perhaps not surprising given the one-to-
management roles. It improved
one nature of the partnerships.
communication at all levels.”
24
Volunteering – The Business Case
Team working skills (55% of volunteers on “Working with 11-16 year olds certainly helps
enterprise workshops report skills gains in this improve your communication skills and
area, compared with 43% of the total sample). general confidence levels. Also, the
students normally have to work in groups
Communication skills (75% of volunteers on with you as a business facilitator. You need
enterprise workshops report skills gains in this to be a good team player and also good
area, compared with 66% of the total sample). at leading teams to get the most of the
Influencing and negotiation skills (54% of groups.”
volunteers on enterprise workshops report skills “Presenting in front of 30 teenagers
gains in this area, compared with 45% of the sharpens your presentation skills and
total sample). improved my ability to interact with
Leadership skills (58% of volunteers on people.”
enterprise workshops report skills gains in this
area, compared with 41% of the total sample).
25
Volunteering – The Business Case
Volunteers involved in this type of activity reported Setting the school’s aims and values
that it was particularly helpful in developing skills in Appointing senior staff including the Head
three areas, as outlined below. Teacher
Team working skills (52% of volunteers working Budgetary allocation and control.
with educational charities reported skills gains
in this area, compared with 43% of the total Volunteers who are school governors clearly value
sample). the opportunities this role offers for developing their
skills and competencies. Respondents particularly
Building relationships and networks (47% of highlight their development in the following areas.
volunteers reported skills gains in this area,
compared with 38% of the total sample). Team working skills (71% of school governor
Financial skills (20% of volunteers, compared volunteers reported skills gains in this area,
with 10% of the total sample working with compared with 43% of the total sample).
educational charities). Influencing and negotiation skills (67% of school
governor volunteers reported skills gains in this
Perhaps most importantly, this was seen to be area, compared with 45% of the total sample).
among the most helpful type of volunteering Problem solving skills (55% of school governor
activity for developing financial skills such as volunteers reported skills gains in this area,
planning budgets. Proportionately twice as compared with 39% of the total sample).
many respondents who volunteered for
educational charities reported that they had Decision making skills and exercising
developed skills in this area, reflecting the nature judgement (53% of school governor volunteers,
of this type of volunteering assignment. It was compared with 39% of the total sample).
second only to school governorships for Developing financial skills such as planning
developing skills in this area. budgets (39% of school governor volunteers
reported skills gains in this area, compared with
10% of the total sample).
2.5.5
Business awareness (33% of school governor
School governors
volunteers reported skills gains in this area,
compared with 16% of the total sample).
Taking on the role of a school governor is in
some respects the most challenging volunteering And finally, this area was the most effective in
activity considered in this research study. Those in developing technical and professional skills
this role are expected to make important with 33% of school governor volunteers
collective decisions about the running of the reporting a skills gain in this area, compared
school. As members of the school’s governing with only 19% of the total sample. 6
A charity which
body, governors are expected to provide recruits volunteers to
strategic management advice, offer challenge Looking at the responsibilities of a school governor become governors in
schools across
and support to the school’s management it should come as no surprise that volunteers in this England.
www.sgoss.org.uk
26
Volunteering – The Business Case
role are reporting significant gains in their skills and team working and building relationships and
competencies in these areas. This positive link networks. In addition, this is one of the most
between volunteering and skills development in effective ways of helping employees to
these business related areas is reinforced by increase their business awareness.
quotes from volunteers about the school
Volunteers who supported educational
governors’ experience.
charities reported that this activity was
particularly helpful in developing team working
“I was elected vice chair of the finance
skills and the ability to build relationships and
committee, which helped build my
networks.
confidence in meetings when talking to
senior management and has helped me Finally, volunteering as a school governor
become more of a team member.” provides significant opportunities for skills
development, particularly in team working,
“I gained exposure to a different way of
influencing and negotiation skills. In addition,
doing things – giving me experience in
this type of volunteering activity is extremely
managing people and problems in a
useful for developing hard business skills
different arena where skills can be
including financial skills such as planning
transferred across and a different
budgets, business awareness and in
approach taken.”
developing technical and professional skills.
“I became the Vice Chair of the finance
committee which was very important to In summary, companies wishing to use
me to develop that side of my business volunteering activities to support and encourage
acumen. I also am involved in the the development of skills and competencies
development of the Head Teacher and among their workforce need to look carefully at
participate in their review, which is building the volunteering opportunities they offer.
people management skills I didn’t possess.”
There will always be important “trade-offs” that
need to be taken into consideration. For example,
some activities, such as a reading partners
2.5.6
programme, are less time intensive, easier to
Summary of skills development
organise and perhaps more appealing to
employees. Other activities such as a school
The findings from this analysis can be summarised
governorship role are more challenging and
as follows (see also Table 3 at the end of this
require more commitment from employees.
Chapter for a visual summary of this information).
27
Volunteering – The Business Case
that there are four major factors that are strongly Finally there were those who found the biggest
influential in the skills development process. In challenge – and so the biggest learning point –
descending order of importance these are: was interacting with the pupils and students
themselves. For these people, the volunteering
Being exposed to a new environment required them to make meaningful connections in
a different way; encouraging the development of
Having the opportunity to interact with a wider
new approaches to and styles of communication.
group of people
Being required to take on a leadership role “It is a totally different set of requirements
influencing an 8 year old boy and helping
Developing empathy and understanding.
him rather than helping an adult, most of
who are already confident rounded
individuals.”
2.6.1
“My communication and influencing skills
Exposure to a new environment
improved as I had the different experience
of trying to establish trust with children
Many respondents cited this aspect as being
rather than adults.”
highly influential in the skills development process.
For some, this was simply the opportunity to “Having to interact with children who are
develop new skills and competencies by not always well-behaved is a good test for
undertaking activities that are not available in their my patience and problem-solving.”
normal working role. The following quotes are
typical of many that highlighted this aspect of the
learning process.
2.6.2
“Working with younger people gave me the Interacting with a wider
chance to test my leadership and group of people
interpersonal skills in a non work
environment, which challenged me greatly The second most frequently cited learning point
and improved me.” was the opportunity that volunteering gives for
working with new people. In some cases this is
“Volunteering gave me the opportunity to
related to the benefits afforded by working
develop skills by undertaking activities that
alongside colleagues from the volunteer’s own
were not available in the work context, or
company who they would not normally work with.
only available in a limited way.”
28
Volunteering – The Business Case
29
Volunteering – The Business Case
skills, adopt new approaches and experiment with Evidence from those who have participated in
new management styles. running enterprise workshops reveals significant
skills development across a number of areas –
However, as previously discussed that for a particularly leadership, adaptability, team working
genuine learning experience to occur, the and building relationships and networks.
volunteer does need to have the opportunity to
reflect on the learning and have the proper The role of school governor is perhaps the most
analytical skills to apply their experience. This again challenging volunteering activity considered in this
places a responsibility on the employing research study and the one which delivers very
organisation to integrate the volunteering significant skills gains. Respondents particularly
programme into mainstream HR processes of highlight their development in team working,
appraisal and development in order to derive the influencing and negotiation skills. In addition, this
maximum benefit from the experience. type of volunteering activity is extremely useful for
developing hard business skills including financial
In summary, those involved in this research skills such as planning budgets; business
reinforce the message that volunteering can be a awareness; and in developing technical and
powerful experiential development process that professional skills.
allows the individual to learn and develop skills and
competencies. It differs strongly from traditional The most common volunteering activity, reading,
approaches to classroom-based management language and number partnering, was particularly
education that focuses more on teaching rather helpful in developing many of the skills and
than learning. competencies studied here and particularly
helpful in developing skills in the area of
communication and influencing and negotiating.
2.7
Conclusions Supporting an education-related charity was
particularly helpful in developing team working
This chapter has examined the skills and skills, building relationships and networks, and
competencies that are developed through financial skills.
volunteering activities. The key findings are:
3.
1. Companies need to think carefully about their
The majority of the 546 respondents to this survey rationale for supporting employee volunteers.
reported that volunteering has developed at least A balance needs to be struck between supporting
some of their skills and competencies across a volunteering programmes that deliver real social
broad range of business relevant areas. The benefits, are attractive and engaging for
specific competencies that are most frequently employees, and offer returns to the business itself.
developed by all types of volunteering
assignments are strongly related to an individual’s When skills development is a key consideration for
personal effectiveness. These are: companies, the evidence from this research
clearly demonstrates which type of volunteering
Communication skills activities are best suited to the development of
specific competencies. These findings are
Ability to help others
summarised in Table 3 at the end of this chapter.
Adaptability
4.
Influencing and negotiating skills.
There are distinctive features of the learning
process associated with the volunteering
assignment that sets it apart from more traditional
2.
approaches to training and development.
It is very clear that different types of volunteering
Volunteering often requires employees to step
activities are better suited to developing particular
outside their normal working role and build
skills and competencies. Some of the key
relations with people who may have a very
observations are as follows:
different world view from their own. Respondents
report that moving outside their “comfort zone” in
Student mentoring is particularly helpful in
this way is extremely useful in both developing their
developing the volunteer’s skills and abilities in
skills and transferring these skills back into the
coaching and helping others to improve by
workplace. The results confirm that volunteering is
guiding and developing their performance.
a valuable experiential learning process that
30
Volunteering – The Business Case
allows the volunteer to develop skills, adopt new helped them perform better in their job. In
approaches and experiment with new addition, for this group, proportionately more
management styles. report that they have developed the skills and
competencies considered by the research.
5.
The motives behind an individual’s decision to 7.
undertake volunteering have an important impact These findings reinforce the importance of
on the benefits they perceive to get from the integrating volunteering activities into mainstream
experience. Among the significant minority (25%) of HR processes of appraisal and development.
those who seek to develop new skills through Companies that make serious efforts to use the
volunteering, almost two thirds believe they are volunteering activities to develop the skills and
performing better in their job as a result of their competencies of their employees reap real
involvement. benefits from so doing.
6.
In a similar way, among those whose volunteering
activities are part of the appraisal process, the
majority (58%) agree that the experience has
Table 3
Developing skills through different volunteering activities
Very effective in developing this skill/competence
Useful for developing this skill/competence
– Less effective in developing this skill/competence
Adaptability
Teamworking –
Communication
Influencing negotiation
Problem solving
Leadership
Decision making
Financial skills – – –
Building relationships
Willingness to improve
Business awareness – – –
31
Volunteering – The Business Case
32
Volunteering – The Business Case
3.
The Wider Personal Benefits of Volunteering
3.1 Introduction 34
3.6 Conclusions 37
33
Volunteering – The Business Case
The impact of the volunteering experience on These findings are replicated by research
career development undertaken in the USA which shows that when
employees feel good about volunteering, they feel
The personal impact in terms of improved self
good about the company they work for. In one
confidence, well being and job satisfaction
survey (Points of Light / LBG Associates, 2000)
Broader personal benefits associated 94% of companies surveyed believed employee
with volunteering. volunteering provides a way to raise employee
morale.
34
Volunteering – The Business Case
Table 4
Volunteering and career development
The skills and experience gained Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly Not Response
from the volunteering activity disagree agree applicable Count
process, the proportion who agree that they are More pride in the business (74% of respondents
better able to apply for more senior positions rises agree or strongly agree)
to 42%. This reinforces the point made in Chapter 2
Increased motivation (73%)
of the additional value of linking volunteering
activity to the formal processes of assessment and Higher job satisfaction (69%)
career management within companies.
Greater commitment to the company (66%).
Table 5
The personal impact of volunteering
Sense of well being / happiness 0.6% 4.2% 56.7% 34.6% 4.0% 526
Awareness of wider social issues 1.0% 3.0% 48.3% 45.4% 2.3% 526
35
Volunteering – The Business Case
Finally, it is worth recording that for 35% of “Personal fulfilment and satisfaction with my
respondents, this was their first experience of job and the company.”
volunteering. For this group, the overall experience
“It’s given me greater pride in my
was also positive and there were no significant
employer.”
differences between the responses of people who
were new to volunteering and those who had
volunteered before.
3.5.2
These results indicate that our sample of volunteers Improved networking
were generally positive about volunteering. We
have no way to tell whether those who did not As we saw in Chapter 2, volunteering assignments
respond to our survey were less positive. often involve mixing with new groups of people,
Nonetheless, the research demonstrates clear inside and outside the employee’s company. This
potential benefits from volunteering and the aspect was highlighted by many as one of the
pattern of selective skills development shown in benefits of involvement.
chapter 2 suggests a good degree of discernment
and realism from the respondents. “Networking and meeting like-minded
colleagues in the bank that I may not have
met otherwise.”
3.5 “Volunteering increased internal networking
Additional Benefits of Volunteering opportunities for me.”
In this final section, we consider some of the “I saw skilled professionals from other parts
additional benefits of the volunteering experience of the business I would otherwise not have
by analysing the qualitative responses to the open met or had the chance to talk to.”
ended question – have you benefited in any other “I had the opportunity to network and build
way from the volunteering activity? relationships with many other people
outside of my normal work environment –
It is possible to identify three broad areas in which which in turn has lead to other
volunteers feel they have benefited. These are opportunities and events which I have
listed in descending order reflecting the frequency been invited to and enjoyed greatly.”
with which they were mentioned. Each of these is
considered in turn:
As we saw in section 2.2, much of the existing “It gave me a sense of well being,
research on the benefits of volunteering highlights contributing actively towards a social
the increased morale and motivation reported by cause.”
those involved. While this was not a focus of the “I value the personal happiness in giving
study, many respondents used the open ended back to society.”
question to speak about how their engagement in
volunteering increases their loyalty towards and “There is a personal sense of achievement
appreciation of the company they work for. The and good feeling I have made a
following quotes are typical of many others. difference.”
“Only a few of the top companies do this In addition, it is important to recognise that it is not
sort of thing. With my skills I could work for just the individual who benefits from the intrinsic
any company, but I would choose one that value of helping others. Several respondents
ran this sort of programme. It sets [THE reported that this “feel good factor” transfers
COMPANY] apart in the communities as a positively into the workplace.
company that is doing their bit for society.”
36
Volunteering – The Business Case
“No matter how bad a day you are having, These findings highlight that a well managed
once you have visited the school you volunteering programme can bring multiple
come back much happier and can have a benefits to the business and to the individual
more productive afternoon’s work.” employee. In Chapter 2 we saw the volunteering
experience is valuable in developing a series of
business relevant skills and competencies. In this
Chapter we have seen that volunteering
3.6
additionally brings tangible gains in terms of
Conclusions
increased job satisfaction, motivation and
commitment to the company. Whilst it would be
In this chapter we have considered some of the
extremely difficult to quantify the value of these
wider benefits reported by volunteers. The positive
benefits for an employer, they should be kept in
pattern of results sheds light on other aspects of
mind when considering the costs and benefits of
volunteering programmes that may benefit
running a volunteering programme.
employer and employee, supported by previous
research.
It would be an extremely complex task to assign a
financial value to these “softer” benefits
Previous research highlights the benefits to the
associated with the volunteering experience that
individual of involvement in volunteering in terms of
have been discussed in this chapter. However, it is
career development. While some respondents to
vital that these positive returns are taken into
this survey reported this as a benefit, this was not
account when we consider the costs and benefits
the case for the majority. In contrast, the majority
of organising a volunteering programme.
of respondents reported that their experience of
volunteering made them feel more positive across
We return to this issue in Chapter 5 when we
a range of measures including:
consider in more depth the relative costs of
running a volunteering programme with other
Self confidence
more traditional approaches to training and
A sense of well being / happiness development.
Understanding of and empathy with others
Job satisfaction
Motivation.
37
Volunteering – The Business Case
38
Volunteering – The Business Case
4.
Corroborating the Skills Gain
4.1 Introduction 40
4.4 Conclusions 44
39
Volunteering – The Business Case
4.2
Line Managers’ Overall Impressions Similar to those identified by the volunteers
themselves, one of the themes to emerge is the
Much existing research in this field relies on the self- value of developing and applying skills and
reported observations of the volunteers competencies in new situations outside the
themselves, but it strengthens the research to workplace. This not only presents an additional
compare this with an external perspective on challenge for the volunteer, but allows them to learn
these observations, where possible – here via the more about the community in which the business
volunteers’ line managers. operates.
The questionnaire surveys were only completed by We also asked line managers if there were any
a small number of line managers, but the findings aspects of volunteering that are not helpful for the
are nonetheless relevant. business. The only responses we received to this
question concerned the overall effectiveness of
Collectively, the line managers participating in this volunteering as a means of developing skills, already
part of the research were responsible for 169 direct seen to be a minority view. The following response
reports, of whom 25 people had been actively illustrates this point well.
involved in volunteering activities during the past
twelve months. Line Managers were asked both to “I believe it might be possible for volunteers to
assess the specific skills developed and to answer develop new skills, but I have yet to see the
some more general questions about the value of evidence from the people who report into
volunteering. me.”
One of the key questions asked of these line No line managers reported serious concerns about
managers was simply: ‘Do you feel the experience the value of volunteering to the business. This is not
gained by volunteers helps them to develop skills simply due to a response bias, with managers only
and competencies that are useful to your responding favourably – as can be seen in the
business?’ A large majority responded positively: following sections looking at their perspectives on
86% of line managers feel that volunteers do gain the specific skills developed, they were very
useful skills from their volunteering experience. discerning in judging the effectiveness and value if
volunteering.
40
Volunteering – The Business Case
Table 6
Line managers’ assessment of the skills gain in their reports
41
Volunteering – The Business Case
The pattern of findings from line managers Looking at some of the other characteristics of this
provides very important evidence. Although group of employees who assessed their skills before
the sample size is small, this offers external and after their involvement in the volunteering
corroboration of the self-reported results and adds activity, the following observations can be made.
weight to the business case for volunteering. The
results support the finding that, for a significant This cohort of volunteers is representative of the
number of employees, volunteering offers real sample as a whole in terms of their age, gender
opportunities to learn and develop specific skills and seniority within the organisation. However, it is
and competencies that are important to their notable that proportionately more of these
work role. volunteers had been with their organisation for less
than three years. Perhaps related to this, is the fact
that many of these people were volunteering for
4.3 the first time.
Assessing Skills Before and
After Volunteering The employees were quite confident about their
skills and competencies prior to undertaking the
Another way to get a more complete picture of volunteering assignment. On a scale of 1 to 10
the skills gained through volunteering is to ask (where 1 = minimal ability and 10 = a full
employees to rate their skills before they begin the understanding and ability) the majority of
volunteering activity as a baseline measure and respondents thought their skill level was 7 or 8 for all
then to repeat the exercise after some time spent of the areas under consideration.
volunteering, here a few months. Whilst this
approach provides perhaps a stronger set of Even though respondents reported a relatively
evidence, it is also considerably more time high level of competence in these different areas
consuming for the companies involved, and as a before they began the volunteering assignments,
result a much smaller cohort of volunteers they were still able to recognise some real
participated in this way – 31 volunteers in four improvements in their skills and competencies as a
companies9. result of their experiences.
As can be seen from Figure 1, these volunteers Some three months after their original assessment,
were predominantly involved in reading, number having undertaken the volunteering activities for
or language partners schemes, or other types of an academic term, the employees reported skills 9
Bank of America Merrill
student mentoring. gain in the following areas. Lynch, CMS Cameron
McKenna, Deutsche
Bank and Nomura.
Figure 1
Volunteering activities
School governor
Reading/language/number partner
Student mentoring
42
Volunteering – The Business Case
Helping others to improve – in the first “Definitely working with others and helping
assessment, 67.2% of respondents rated their them to learn about new things. This has
skills as 7 out of 10 or more. After three months helped me with assisting and guiding team
of volunteering, 71.4% of respondents rated members in work.”
their skills as 7 out of 10 or more. “It has made me more confident in
Building relationships and networks – in this adapting my style to different audiences, I
area, the assessment rose from 52.5% scoring think I am more conscious now of the forum
8 or more, to 71.4% scoring 8 or more. I am addressing when I am presenting.”
43
Volunteering – The Business Case
4.4
Conclusions
44
Volunteering – The Business Case
5.
Understanding the Financial Costs
of Development Gains
5.1 Introduction 46
5.6 Comparing the Cost of Developing Skills Through Training and Volunteering 53
5.9 Conclusions 57
45
Volunteering – The Business Case
46
Volunteering – The Business Case
that volunteering seems to lead to increased To address this issue, we asked HR professionals in
productivity of employees. the companies involved in the research three
questions:
These studies highlight the potential value of using
volunteering as an alternative to, or in conjunction Are the skills gained through volunteering
with, more traditional approaches to training and relevant to your business?
development. Another study looking specifically at
Do these skills feature in your core competency
the relative merits of volunteering versus other
framework?
forms of training, questioned HR managers on its
perceived value in skills development (IVR Do you offer training and development
Research Bulletin, 2005). opportunities for people in these skills and
competencies?
The research found that only two percent of HR
managers felt that incorporating volunteering Clearly, any potential business benefits are
activities that draw upon business skills and dependent on companies responding positively to
expertise in the company’s training and these questions.
development programme would cost more than
other development opportunities currently on The second question addressed here is how the
offer. The largest proportion of respondents (28%) costs involved in developing skills through
felt this would cost the same as traditional volunteering compare with the costs involved in
development activities while 16% felt it would cost enhancing these same skills through more
less. traditional training and development routes.
It is worth noting, however, that the majority of HR The research was designed to calculate the full
managers participating in this research (54%) felt cost of the volunteering route to staff development
they were unable to provide any insight into the accurately, and so that it could stand comparison
cost effectiveness of using volunteering as a with an assessment of the costs of other routes of
method of skills development compared to other staff development. Hence companies were asked
methods of learning, probably because the costs to provide data on the costs of running a training
of volunteering were unknown. and development department and the cost of
running an employee volunteering programme. It
The findings reported in the following sections should be noted that this includes the full cost of
address precisely this question about the relative managing and running volunteering programmes
cost effectiveness of different skills development (as it is not possible to separate out only those parts
approaches – how does the cost of developing relevant to skills development, for example).
skills through volunteering compare to the cost of
developing the same set of skills through traditional The research asked companies to provide detailed
training programmes? and commercially sensitive information. For this
reason, the results in this Chapter are reported at
an aggregate level. Where individual returns are
5.3 referred to, the companies in question are not
Our Approach to identified. In total, we received information from
the Research Question seven of the companies involved in the research.
Before analysing the data gathered from The following sections look in more detail at the
participating companies, it is important to make a responses to the research questions laid out here.
few observations about the methodological
approach to calculating and comparing the costs
of skills gained through volunteering and the costs 5.4
of more traditional forms of training and Building Skills through Training and
development. Development
Whilst the previous chapters have demonstrated In this section, we look at the data we received
perceived skills gains in volunteers, it is important to from HR managers on how they develop skills and
recognise that any observed improvement does competencies through traditional training and
not necessarily constitute a benefit to the development routes.
company per se. Therefore it is necessary to first
establish whether the skills developed contribute to
the success of the business.
47
Volunteering – The Business Case
We received the data returns from four HR In summary, the responses here support the case
departments. These provided the following that the skills employees develop through their
information: volunteering experience are of real value to the
business in driving forward aspects of individual
HR managers reported that all of the skills and performance that are of relevance to their
competencies identified in our survey are of mainstream role within the company.
relevance to their businesses, which was to be
hoped, given the involvement of HR
professionals in the design and testing of the 5.4.2
competency matrix. Number of people trained
Three of the four companies also reported that
Three of the four companies were able to provide
all of these competencies feature in their own
data on how many UK-based employees received
frameworks. The fourth company, a
training in these relevant areas. In one company,
multinational organisation, reported that it
85% of the staff (23,226 people) “undertook some
does not have “a distinct competency
form of classroom based or online learning during
framework for all [of the company]” but the
the past twelve months” in the skills areas relevant
different frameworks they use “will cover many
to this research.
if not all of these areas”.
To reinforce the importance of these Another firm calculated that 1,880 employees
competencies to the business, training was were trained in relevant skills areas, representing
provided in nearly all of the skill areas by most 23% of the total UK workforce. The third company
of the companies. The only exceptions were had 99 employees undertaking training and
one company which did not provide training in development in the skills areas identified,
“adaptability”; and another which did not representing 6% of their UK employees.
provide training in “adaptability”, “helping
others to improve” and “continuous From the data available, the following four skills
improvement”. areas are the most frequently developed in terms
of the proportion of employees attending training
It is interesting that two of the four companies do programmes:
10
This is an indicative list
not provide training in adaptability, defined here of data that
as being effective in different surroundings and Building business awareness – understand the companies were
with different tasks, responsibilities and people. It is context in which an organisation operates, the asked to provide.
However, different
legitimate to question the extent to which it is mission/vision and external constraints companies provided
possible to develop this skill through a traditional (undertaken by 42% of all employees in different sub-sets of
participating companies). this information.
training programme. It might well be that
Table 7
Comparing the costs of skills development 10
Management time in running volunteering programmes The direct costs of delivering the specific training event
Costs of any brokerage service Incidental costs like travel and subsistence
Expenses paid for volunteers to travel to Lost time due to absence from work
and from schools/colleges, etc.
48
Volunteering – The Business Case
Table 8
Reported costs of providing training and development
49
Volunteering – The Business Case
The second company spent almost £400,000 to considers training spend across the company as a
provide training, representing an average whole.
spend of approximately £400 per employee.
It is, however, reasonable to consider that the
The third company that provided data stated
average total training spend per person per
that its total learning spend for the year was
annum in the UK may be considerably higher that
£9.2 million, again representing an average
the £400 figure reported in our study. This is an
spend per employee of just over £400.
important consideration to bear in mind when
comparing this data with the information on the
As these are overall figures, the extent to
costs of providing volunteering opportunities for
which they capture HR and management time
staff.
is unclear.
5.4.6
5.4.5
Summary of the costs of
Training cost data from other sources
training and development
Given the small sample of companies responding
The following findings and conclusions can be
to this part of the research, it is important to
drawn from the research:
consider broader sources of information about the
amount companies typically spend on training
1.
and development.
It is important to recognise that although the
research survey instrument was the same for all
The most comprehensive report on this issue is
respondents, the data supplied by each company
published by the UK Commission for Employment
differed slightly. However, despite these
and Skills11. This draws together many existing
differences, there is a degree of consistency in the
datasets from reliable sources across Europe
results of the analysis suggesting the data provided
including the most recent data on training and
by the companies provides a relatively robust
development spend which was produced by the
picture of the current situation.
Chartered Management Institute (CMI) in 2004. As
can be seen in Table 9, this data shows the
2.
average spend on management development
There is clear evidence that the skills and
across seven European countries, including the UK.
competencies developed through volunteering
assignments are of direct relevance to these
The average training spend per manager in the UK
businesses. Many of these skills feature in the
in 2004 was €1,625, or £1,470 at the time of writing. 11
“UK Commission For
mainstream competency frameworks used by
This is clearly significantly above the figures quoted Employment And
companies to monitor and guide staff Skills – Ambition
by two of the companies providing data for this 2020” (2009)
development.
study, but in line with the third. It should also be 12
Mabey, C and
noted that the CMI data refers to training and Ramirez, M.,
“Developing
development for managers, where this study
Managers:
A European
Perspective” (2004)
Table 9
UK average costs of training and development
Germany €4,438
Denmark €3,387
Norway €2,734
France €2,674
Spain €1,803
UK €1,625
Romania €424
50
Volunteering – The Business Case
51
Volunteering – The Business Case
profession is in the region of £45,000 to £50,000. It costs beyond the management costs described
would seem then that the salaries paid to people above. As such, these figures could be considered
managing employee volunteering programmes in to be an over-estimate of the average costs
the companies involved in this research are involved.
broadly in line with those of people in the wider
CSR profession. In summary, the data provided by those
companies participating in this research suggest
The figures here refer to the total annual costs, that the typical costs for supporting an employee
however, and hence need to be adjusted for the volunteering programme is £14,475 per annum. This
amount of time people devote to the task of is in addition to the direct management cost of the
managing volunteering programmes. Multiplying people involved in running the programme, which
the median management costs (£45,000) by the was calculated in section 5.5.3 as £32,400.
average time spent organising employer
supported volunteering initiatives in education 5.5.5
(0.72 FTE) gives the actual costs among the firms in Management costs per volunteer
our sample of £32,400 per annum.
The final stage in the process is to look at the
By way of comparison, it is worth noting that the overall costs involved in supporting volunteers on a
typical salary costs of an HR practitioner at a per capita basis – in other words, how much do
“manager” grade is between £36,000 and £56,000 companies spend to support each volunteer in
according to a recent benchmarking report from carrying out their activities?
a specialist HR recruitment company14. This shows
14
“Michael Page
that HR salaries range from £22-27,000 at the This figure can be derived by the simple Human Resources
Assistant/Admin Officer grade to £77,000+ at the calculation: Salary Survey 2010.”
15
Director level. Only one company
Management costs + additional costs / supplied data on this
average number of volunteers = element. This stated
that the total costs for
per capita spend providing
5.5.4 communications
Additional costs in running The actual figures are: about all volunteering
volunteering programmes £32,400 + £14,475 / 123 employees = £381.10
opportunities across
the whole EMEA
region (Europe,
As well as calculating the direct management Hence, for the companies participating in this Middle East and
costs of running volunteering programmes, it is Africa) were
research, the average cost to support each approximately
important to consider all other costs involved in volunteer is £381. £20,000. We have not
supporting volunteers. Table 10 sets out these included this in our
calculations of
potential costs; the figures shown represent the We can also look in more detail than simply the average annual
average costs among all respondent companies. spend as it is not
average costs across the sample as a whole. It is
possible to attribute
possible to make the same calculation for each of this cost in a
It is important to note that no single company the six companies providing data for this element meaningful way to
reported incurring costs for all of these elements – gaining support for
of the research. Table 11 shows this information at
indeed many companies have few additional volunteering activities
the individual company level. in education based
initiatives in London.
Table 10
Additional costs of supporting volunteers
Items of expenditure Average annual spend
Direct costs involved in supporting the volunteers in education programmes (e.g. CRB checks) £2,725
Expenses paid for volunteers to travel to and from schools/colleges, etc. £8,400
Costs of any training undertaken to prepare the volunteers before they began their
assignments in education initiatives £350
TOTAL £14,475
52
Volunteering – The Business Case
Table 11
Per capita spend on supporting volunteers in education
Business No. of volunteers in the No. of volunteers in Per capita spend on
UK (approx) education (approx) volunteers in
education
16
This data is derived through the same (time and expenses) of the most cost-efficient The data for this
company includes the
methodology described here. Figures are collated programme. communications costs
for the management costs and additional costs of £20,000 excluded
from the aggregate
that are attributable to supporting employees 4.
calculation.
engaged in education-based volunteering Despite this variation, among respondent
activities. The sum of this data is then divided by businesses the average annual cost to support
the relevant number of volunteers in each each volunteer involved in an education based
company. activity in London is £381 per person per annum.
5.5.6 5.6
Summary of the costs of Comparing the Cost of Developing Skills
supporting volunteers Through Training and Volunteering
The following conclusions can be drawn from this In this section, we move on to make a direct
analysis of the data on the costs of supporting comparison between the cost of developing a set
employee volunteering activities: of skills and competencies through the traditional
training and development route, with the costs
1. involved in developing these same range of skills
The direct management cost of staff who organise and competencies through volunteering.
and administer the employee volunteering
programmes is a substantial element of the cost to An analysis of the data provided by the
the business. On average, this accounts for two- participating companies shows that the cost to the
thirds of the total costs. business of both processes of skills development is
broadly the same:
2.
There are, however, important additional costs In section 5.4 of this chapter we saw that the
involved in running an effective volunteering lowest estimate of the average training spend,
programme, especially one that involves among the small sample of companies in this
interaction with children and young people in research, to develop employees in the relevant
education. Brokerage fees, travel expenses and competencies is £400 per person per annum.
direct costs such as Criminal Record Bureau (CRB)
In section 5.5 we found that the average
checks all need to be accounted for. Together
annual cost to support each volunteer who is
they represent about one third of the total costs.
developing the same skills and competencies is
£381 per person per annum.
3.
Within the sample of companies providing data for
Hence it appears that both routes to skills
this research, there is a relatively large variation in
development use a similar level of resources.
the overall costs of administering a volunteering
Indeed, a strong argument can be made that the
programme. The most “costly” programme in per
volunteering route to developing skills is
capita terms uses over three times the resources
53
Volunteering – The Business Case
In Chapter 2 we showed how employees are Most companies were able to provide a full
confident that they develop skills and breakdown of the costs – both direct
competencies through their volunteering management time and indirect expenses –
assignments; and that this skills development is associated with running their volunteering
useful and applicable to their work in the programmes. We are therefore confident
business. that the average costs for supporting volunteers
In Chapter 3 we showed that there are a range outlined in section 5.5 of this chapter are
of significant additional benefits across a range accurate.
of factors including increased job satisfaction,
motivation and commitment to the company. In considering the costs of training and
development, all companies were able to
In Chapter 4 we showed how the evidence of provide data on the direct costs of training
relevant and valuable skills gain is programmes – whether these were provided in-
corroborated by the line managers of these house or externally. It could be argued, however,
volunteers. that the fixed costs associated with the overall
We have now shown that this business-relevant provision of training and development (i.e. that
skills gain can be attained through proportion of the management costs of the HR
volunteering programmes at a lower cost to department that organises staff development)
the company than more traditional were not explicitly identified or accounted for.
approaches to training and development.
It is possible that such costs are charged to a
This finding is the strongest articulation of the central staff development budget and do not
business case for supporting employee appear in the figures supplied by respondents to
volunteering programmes that we have seen in this survey. If this is the case, this reinforces the
research published on this subject to date. argument that developing skills through
volunteering programmes is less costly to the
business than other forms of training and
development.
54
Volunteering – The Business Case
Table 12
Approximate value of time “lost” to volunteering
Total hours spent volunteering in work time per annum Cost per hour Total annual cost
While these figures are interesting, it was not The length of the programme
possible to ascertain how much time (or the value The skills and experience required of the trainer
of that time) employees spent participating in or facilitator.
other training and development activities and this
remains an area for further investigation. While this research has captured the different costs
of training programmes which develop skills and
competencies in specific areas, it has not been
possible to ascertain the costs of organising and
55
Volunteering – The Business Case
2.
Individual participates in the training intervention 14
Charlton, K. (2005)
3. Seeking The Holy
Grail of Return on
Reassess the person’s ability to perform the task or Investment,
carry out their work role Communique,
p. 2, Summer
56
Volunteering – The Business Case
Much of the research to date has offered It delivers real social benefits to partner
evidence that employees are able to develop and organisations which gain from the advice,
acquire skills through volunteering assignments. This guidance, knowledge and experience of the
evidence has been confirmed by the current volunteers.
study. Employees themselves report improved morale
and increased job satisfaction, motivation and
In addition, in this Chapter we have moved a step commitment to the company as a direct result
further in the analysis by addressing two specific of the opportunities afforded by their
questions: volunteering experience.
Are the skills and competencies developed Most importantly, this research has
through volunteering assignments of relevance demonstrated that volunteering is a highly cost
and value to the companies concerned? effective route to skills development that
compares very favourably with more
Are the costs of developing these skills and traditional approaches to training and
competencies through volunteering development.
significantly different from more traditional
approaches to training and development?
57
Volunteering – The Business Case
58
Volunteering – The Business Case
6.
Case studies
6.1 Introduction 60
59
Volunteering – The Business Case
6.1
Introduction
In this Chapter we turn to a series of case studies In broad terms, all the interviews followed a similar
from eight companies that participated in the format and covered the following issues:
research. In addition, we include a case study on
Accenture, which has an interesting example of The business case – The perceived business
skills based volunteering in its Accenture Business benefits of supporting employees’ volunteering
Class Programme. in education.
Thus far, the research study has largely The link between volunteering and skills
concentrated on a quantitative analysis of the development – The extent to which volunteering
surveys that showed the skills gained through assignments contribute to staff development.
volunteering and the value of this skills gain to the
employees and the company they work for. Collaboration between CSR and HR functions –
How the two areas of the business work
These case studies move beyond this data driven together to ensure volunteering can support
approach to consider a more qualitative analysis skills development.
of the direct experience of a selection of
companies running successful volunteering Measurement and evaluation – How the skills
activities. Specifically, we sought to understand in developed through volunteering are assessed
broader terms what lessons can be learned in and measured.
designing and delivering an effective volunteering
programme which promotes real skills Challenges and lessons – How others can learn
development. from the case study companies.
60
Volunteering – The Business Case
61
Volunteering – The Business Case
This means the company adopts a very personal In addition to skills and competencies
approach to matching the employee with development, the Bank believes that its CSR
volunteering opportunities, and Corporate strategy as a whole is a key differentiator within the
Citizenship staff within Deutsche Bank sit down on a financial sector, and that volunteering is an
one-to-one basis with employees and establish: integral part of this commitment to responsible
business.
The objectives of the employee
Volunteering has been found to be particularly
What the employee has to offer
relevant to recruitment – the Bank finds it is
Particular skills that the employee increasingly asked what volunteering opportunities
wishes to develop it can offer recent graduates – and believes that a
varied and carefully designed community
Areas of interest to the employee.
involvement programme ensures Deutsche Bank
continues to recruit the best talent.
The results of this process are presented by the
Corporate Citizenship team to HR colleagues
formally at least twice per year.
Measurement
In order to measure business benefits, there is a
In addition, members of staff at the middle and
degree of evaluation for all volunteer
senior management level are mapped in terms of
programmes. The level to which volunteers are
their performance and development requirements
asked to evaluate their volunteering activity varies
in a talent review process. Key individuals have
between programmes, but usually involves a
talent development programmes established
survey. Frequently asked questions include:
which seek to identify and fill gaps in their skills and
knowledge. Volunteering experience comes into
“What skills have you developed as part of your
this process, and the Corporate Citizenship team
volunteering experience?”
at the Bank will work to develop programmes
which can fill those identified gaps. “Has your perception / opinion of the bank
changed since volunteering?”
In a similar way, line managers are able to
approach the Corporate Citizenship staff at
Some programmes are followed up by face-to-
Deutsche Bank, and ask for team building
face interviews, carried out by Deutsche Bank’s
volunteering events which aim to improve the way
main volunteering partner, CSV (a UK based
their team works together.
volunteering and training charity) which provides
the bank with a summary report of the interviews
carried out.
62
Volunteering – The Business Case
63
Volunteering – The Business Case
64
Volunteering – The Business Case
experience which will be most useful to them – and should be a shared experience for employees,
fill skills gaps by picking the appropriate opportunity. something which they can all draw a common
benefit from.
Specific skills which can be improved by
volunteering, outlined by Accenture, include 2.
delivering value in a non-traditional client To ensure long-term sustainability of volunteering
environment, project management, innovation and programmes, Accenture prefers to build long-term
event planning, among many others. associations with a few key strategic community
partners. Accenture then engages with these
chosen organisations in a multifaceted way – for
Measurement and business benefits instance interaction between the two groups in one
After volunteering, all employees are surveyed year could include fundraising, mentoring, reading
about their experience and asked a range of partners and cash giving. Most of the community
questions, including some around skills development partnerships Accenture has established have been
and engagement, such as: in place for between five and ten years.
65
Volunteering – The Business Case
Traditionally, the focus of BNY Mellon’s Currently, community teams map out what
volunteering activities has been contributing to the opportunities their charity partners offer and then
local community and ensuring the programmes work with business and HR managers to identify
resonated with causes and activities that how these activities may be valuable for groups or
employees are enthusiastic about. The most individual employees in skills, competency or
popular choices have been in education-related knowledge development, as part of their ongoing
volunteering such as reading partner schemes and development programme.
CV workshops.
From an HR perspective, BNY Mellon believes there
In the past, skills development was not necessarily are many benefits from volunteering that are
a core focus when developing the volunteering aligned with, and can complement, existing
programmes. However, it became clear that learning and development activities, including
certain opportunities, such as being a team leader traditional course-based approaches.
for events, offer great development opportunities
for employees in leading and coordinating A volunteering exercise not only exposes an
projects. The company now actively seeks ways to individual to new challenges but does so in a very
further engage people and use volunteering as an different environment from their normal business
additional platform to broaden and deepen activities. As such, HR at BNY Mellon recognise that
employees’ leadership skills. volunteering can be a valuable and powerful
learning experience that has positive personal and
An excellent example of innovation in this area is professional development outcomes – a win-win
work carried out by BNY Mellon volunteers as part for the individual and for the company.
of an external e-mentoring programme involving
young people who are currently not in Employee volunteering is not a mandatory part of
employment, education or training (NEET). This employee appraisals at BNY Mellon, although
initiative enables employee volunteers with heavy there is opportunity for employees to include
workloads to keep up their commitments to their volunteering in their annual personal development
mentees by engaging with them online. plans.
66
Volunteering – The Business Case
Measurement and business benefits In terms of the business benefits derived from
Currently, the volunteering programme is volunteering, skills development is evidently a key
measured using largely quantitative means. The benefit. There are also internal networking benefits,
hours of volunteer time donated by employees as employees can meet others from within the
and the value of this time in wages is calculated company who they might not have met in the
monthly. office.
However, BNY Mellon recognises that the true Employee engagement levels also benefit from
value of volunteering is often more subjective. volunteering activities. There is a significant
Given this, before employees undertake increase in engagement levels among employees
volunteering activities, they are encouraged to who volunteer, with 89.6% of those involved in
think about the skills which they might be able to education-related volunteering activities in
improve or develop during the course of the London reporting that the activity improved their
volunteer programme. communication skills. Over 80% of those surveyed
also felt that their pride in the company had
In addition, employees receive a feedback form increased and their motivation had improved.
after completing volunteering assignments, and
there are a number of questions in the annual Having an effective volunteering programme
employee engagement survey relevant to helps to increase the company’s visibility and can
volunteering. Both these methods seek to establish also generate positive PR.
how the volunteers have benefited from their
experience. The Community Affairs programme is an integral
element of BNY Mellon’s business strategy.
The company finds that volunteering has a huge
impact on the way employees feel about the
company, raising engagement levels and
improving employee morale. It is also thought to
have a positive impact on staff retention.
67
Volunteering – The Business Case
68
Volunteering – The Business Case
69
Volunteering – The Business Case
volunteering for its own sake, Nomura does seek to are running smoothly and to raise areas for
assess the effectiveness of its volunteering improvement. The coordinator’s role is important
activities. The company tracks participation rates to ensure programmes are monitored throughout.
of employees, sends out surveys to volunteers after
they have completed their programmes, and 3.
attempts to assess the impact their volunteering is Nomura begins recruiting for volunteers in August,
having on the local community. There are plans to when the school is closed for the summer, but this
establish mechanisms whereby skills development ensures volunteers have been identified and
is measured specifically and the team are trained in time for the new academic year.
exploring options with senior management. Furthermore, the workload of volunteers often
changes during the course of an academic year.
There are recognised motivational and skills In order to overcome this problem Nomura paired
development benefits from volunteering at up volunteers, so they could attend on alternate
Nomura, with employees who are new to weeks, and created a pool of back up volunteers,
management within the company encouraged to called reserve buddies, who are able to fill in if
take part in the student business mentoring volunteers are unable to make sessions.
programme.
4.
In addition, the company aims to recognise An element of competition is often introduced, for
volunteering through line management, instance, communication workshops facilitated in
encouraging employees to discuss their a Dragon Den’s format and sponsoring a book
volunteering activity during appraisals as part of design competition as part of the reading scheme.
the corporate performance management
framework. This should feed through into the 5.
promotion process, where volunteering Nomura recognises that for a programme to be
experience is considered favourably. The successful, a suitable community partner needs to
company believes that engagement with the be identified and selected. Part of the process is
community shows that an employee is committed ensuring the volunteers are working with students
to Nomura and is not only concerned about with real needs, who will make the most of the
themselves as an individual. opportunity.
6.
Challenges and lessons learned Senior level buy-in at Nomura is very good. There
According to Nomura’s experience, the key are senior executives on the board of Oaklands
elements which support the uptake of volunteering Secondary School and Southwark Primary School –
at the company are as follows. the company’s two school partners. At the annual
volunteering event, senior partners present prizes
1. and promote volunteering.
All volunteers are provided with training which
includes sessions on why Nomura is involved in 7.
particular activities and subject specific Finally, the community team at Nomura
information. Volunteers are provided with communicates volunteering opportunities
guidance on the students’ curriculum and throughout the company using a variety of
methods of teaching, along with child protection different channels, including leaflets, a company-
issues. The training is usually carried out by wide newsletters, posters, emails and champion
Nomura’s partner organisations, who share further networks. The company also markets volunteering
material with the volunteers throughout the year. on digital screens which have been installed in
several of the offices, and through success stories
2. outlined on the intranet. In addition, Nomura
Ongoing support is also important for a successful encourages its charity partners to go to the
programme, often involving the volunteer canteen at lunch time and be available to answer
coordinator checking up with their partner school employee questions.
once a week. In addition, there are formal
meetings every academic term to ensure activities
70
Volunteering – The Business Case
Confidence building
Reading an audience
Team work.
71
Volunteering – The Business Case
3.
Successful marketing is also an important area,
including good communication with employees
who will become enthusiastic champions by
talking about their volunteering experiences with
other colleagues. Internal promotion of
volunteering principally takes the form of monthly
newsletters which are sent to all employees who
have expressed an interest in volunteering. This
group currently makes up about 30% of the
workforce. In addition, there is one volunteering
email sent out per quarter to the whole company.
Once a year there is a big, coordinated drive on
volunteering involving leaflets drops, posters and
presentations to business units.
72
Volunteering – The Business Case
Redlands Primary School (Tower Hamlets). This While Freshfields does recognise that volunteers
involves reading and number partners with 60 develop skills and competencies as a result of their
employees each spending one hour activities, this has not been formally articulated
volunteering every other week in term time, an until now. Going forwards, Freshfields wants to find
annual careers day and an annual cultural trip out more about which skills can be developed and
for the whole school. In addition, there are from what volunteering opportunities.
three members of staff on the governing body
of the school. This will build on initial work the firm has undertaken
which identified what particular skills are
Haggerston Secondary School (Hackney).
developed through specific volunteering activities.
Among other activities, this partnership involves
For instance, mentoring programmes have been
a mentoring programme, an annual virtual
found very beneficial to first- time line managers,
Paris and Madrid day to assist those about to
helping them to develop active listening skills
take their GCSE oral exam, the Citizenship
which improve empathy. In a similar way,
Foundation Lawyers in Schools programme,
Freshfields has found that acting as a reading
hosting work experience visits and having two
partner has resulted in volunteers feeling a greater
members of staff on the governing body.
affiliation with the firm, which has increase job
Cardinal Pole School, where Freshfields satisfaction.
volunteers work with students on “Oxbridge”
interview preparation. As yet, there is no structured programme regarding
the integration of volunteering experience into
Career Academies UK, which involves
employee appraisals within the firm. Some
volunteers running a number of workshops and
volunteers do outline their activities in the appraisal
hosting work experience events. A partner from
processes, but the majority do not.
the finance team also sits on the Career
Academies UK advisory board.
73
Volunteering – The Business Case
Measurement and business benefits Freshfields believes that the business also benefits
A survey is sent out to all employees when they from an improved ability to recruit good staff, as
have completed a volunteering programme in the firm is finding that high-calibre graduates want
order to assess the success of the programme and to work for a more socially responsible firm. CSR
establish suggestions for future opportunities. In and volunteering are seen to be an integral part of
broad terms, the questions included in the survey attracting the best talent. While there is no formal
cover the following areas: measurement of this, there is significant anecdotal
evidence to suggest that volunteering activities
Whether the volunteer has developed new or are a key attraction to new recruits.
existing skills from participating in the initiative.
This is assessed in terms of communication skills, “We want to recruit people who are aware of
leadership skills, teamwork and other skills. wider social issues, and are willing and able to
make a positive contribution to the communities in
Whether the volunteer feels they have gained
which we live and work.” Kevin Hogarth,
from taking part in terms of a sense of
Freshfields’ Global Human Resources Director
achievement; broadening their horizons,
improving skills etc.
A related aspect of this is the potential link
The broader benefits of the volunteering between recruitment and the schools Freshfields
initiative in terms of its positive impact on the has partnered with. The community programmes
community, motivating employees, benefiting aim to raise aspirations of local students and it is
the firm’s reputation and so on. hoped that in the future, students who have
benefited from Freshfields volunteers might wish to
apply to the firm when beginning their own
Going forwards, the firm plans to ask employees
careers. In recent years as a result of Freshfields’
more questions around skills developed during the
broader work experience programme, 15 people
course of their volunteering experience.
have taken up a permanent role within the firm.
Beyond these issues, another important benefit of
Finally, measurement of the community benefits of
the volunteering programme is the opportunity it
volunteering programmes includes knowledge of
provides to build internal networks, by getting
the inputs and outputs for the programmes, such
people from across the business together and
as how many hours have been contributed by the
encouraging them to interact. This is particularly
firm. However, the firm would like to measure the
beneficial in bringing together people from the
full impact of that investment in the future, for
fee-earning side of the business with those in
example how reading partners have not only
business services.
improved literacy levels in a school but led to
improved attendance at school.
In addition, volunteering is perceived to improve
retention, through improved job satisfaction, and a
greater feeling of affiliation with the firm.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Measurement and business benefits and this enabled them to improve their
Société Générale does not measure the outcomes creativity, confidence and also their general
or impacts of its volunteering programmes presentation skills.
extensively, but where groups of staff are involved,
reviews are conducted with the beneficiary, the
supplier and the appointed leader of the Challenges and lessons learned
volunteering team to monitor progress and learn 1.
lessons for the future. This is supplemented by The corporate responsibility team at Société
interviews and email feedback for individual Générale is small, and it is not always easy to
volunteers. First time volunteering opportunities allocate resources to the ongoing citizenship,
tend to be more closely reviewed. environment and governance issues which fall
under the team’s remit. The UK team is also the
Currently, there are no set questions or formalised leader for the Group worldwide in citizenship, so
surveys sent out to volunteers upon completion there are demands to share best practice with
of a programme, but in the future, Société teams in other countries.
Générale intends to follow up the Corporation of
London/Corporate Citizenship surveys with its own 2.
questionnaire to volunteers, as well as evaluating Addressing external communication is a real
their learning through line managers. challenge. Previous thinking has been that this was
not a good idea as staff could take a negative
From the available evidence, Société Générale’s view of the Bank using their efforts as volunteers to
approach to volunteering emphasises the boost the Société Générale reputation. The current
benefit to staff engagement, morale and view is that staff in general and volunteers in
productivity. The company also believes that particular would take some pride in well crafted
volunteering can improve certain skills such as publicity of volunteers’ efforts to help
leadership, presentation, listening and thinking disadvantaged communities, so the CR team is
‘outside the box’. looking into how best to achieve this.
There is currently no external communication of
The company also believes that volunteering can the company’s UK CR activity other than via the
provide a real benefit to employees who have limited information available on the Group
reached a plateau in their career. In this context, website.
volunteering can improve or maintain
engagement in the company, and enrich 3
employees’ working lives in a way that other In practical terms, Société Générale’s volunteering
rewards such as salary and bonus might not. activities tend to be located near to its offices in
Canary Warf and the City, i.e. in Tower Hamlets
Société Générale also values the reputational and Hackney. This is done in an effort to reduce
benefits of volunteering, finding that employees travelling distance, and therefore the time
appreciate the opportunity to ‘give back’ to the employees are required to spend away from their
community. Société Générale finds that desks.
volunteering often improves employees’ pride in
the company, and believes that offering 4.
volunteering opportunities will increase the The community team at Société Générale has
company’s position as an employer of choice. found that encouraging participation at the
businesses’ smaller offices is particularly
An example of a Société Générale volunteering challenging. There tends to be more reluctance to
programme with business benefits is the allow employees time off in smaller units, where
partnership with ELBA’s ‘Represent London’ absence can impact more heavily on colleagues
initiative. Société Générale employees developed than it might in a larger office where there is more
and ran seminars on CV and interviewing skills for support. The company finds that more work is
young people, involving group activity and required in these type of environments to create a
student training. Volunteers were given the more positive culture regarding volunteering.
opportunity to work with and develop a group of
people very different to their colleagues or clients,
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Working with HR colleagues The FSA recognises that the main business benefit
Responsibility for volunteering programmes at the of volunteering is skills and competencies
FSA used to be within the HR department, and the development. Volunteering at the FSA is linked to
volunteering team previously reported to the the employee competency framework. The FSA
manager for learning and development. This also uses its volunteering activity to promote the
structure facilitated a close partnership and clear organisation as a potential employer in the local
linkage between the two activities. There is a new community.
emphasis on diversity with regards to volunteering,
and the team now reports to the manager of Internal awareness of the benefits of volunteering is
employee relations, which has lessened the focus good. Managers sometimes approach the
previously given to ensuring skills and volunteering department for suggestions to
competencies are developed through particular challenges they are facing. For instance,
volunteering. if a certain employee needs to improve their
project management skills, or listening skills, their
However, all volunteering activities continue to be line manager might ask if there is anything
monitored and tracked on an internal system appropriate.
alongside training courses; therefore employees
are encouraged to think about volunteering as a
learning and development opportunity.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
4.
The FSA found that focusing on a particular area or
organisation can be especially effective, and
recently moved from working with a large number
of schools to concentrating efforts on a couple of
key institutions.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Missing an appointment with a mentee can have makes to community partners and the business.
a detrimental effect on this relationship. This can
present a real challenge for volunteers when they In a similar way, Freshfields has found that
are confronted with tight deadlines and the providing information which shows how volunteers
pressures of work. are making a difference is a great way to maintain
momentum and ensure good levels of employee
In order to address this issue and prevent children engagement. Again this can only be done by
from missing out when volunteers are particularly ensuring that volunteers are surveyed about their
busy, the FSA has arranged a “buddying” system, experience at the end of assignments. They also
so that volunteers can alternate with others, and receive a summary of what has been achieved
reduce their commitment from once a week to collectively by the volunteers and a ‘thank you’
once a fortnight. To ensure the system never fails, email from the senior partner involved on that
there is also a pool of reserves in case both programme.
“buddies” are unable to make a particular
mentoring session.
External recognition – Finally, a valuable way of
Developing the business case – All companies confirming the success of the volunteering
agreed that this is a vital element of a successful programme is to gain external recognition.
volunteering programme. One aspect of building Recently winning a Dragon Award has helped to
the business case is a strong emphasis on raise the profile of Investec’s volunteering
measurement and evaluation. programmes both internally and externally. The
award brought recognition and increased buy-in
Accenture’s flagship volunteering programme from senior managers who understood better the
(Accenture Business Class Programme) is subject to benefits of the programme.
monitoring in terms of inputs, outputs and the
impacts of the activities. The whole programme
was designed with measurement included from
the start. At Accenture, the Citizenship Team
believes that clarity in communicating how
volunteering is relevant to the business is of the
utmost importance, and once this has been
established, there is good buy-in from senior
stakeholders.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
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Volunteering – The Business Case
7.
Conclusions
7.1 Introduction 84
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Volunteering – The Business Case
84
Volunteering – The Business Case
the experience has helped them perform better in In contrast, the companies involved in this research
their job. Evidence of this can be seen in the case are typically investing at least £400 per person per
studies. In addition, proportionately more of these annum to develop relevant skills and
volunteers report that they have developed the competencies in their staff – although data from a
skills and competencies considered by the broader UK survey on training costs suggest that the
research. typical training spend per employee could be
considerably higher.
4.
It is also important to note that different Hence, for those companies seeking to develop
volunteering activities are more effective in core competencies – such as communication skills;
developing specific skills and competencies. Some influencing and negotiation skills; and planning and
of the key observations are as follows: organisational skills – the cost of doing so through
volunteering assignments is certainly no more
Student mentoring is particularly helpful in expensive than traditional approaches to training
developing the volunteer’s skills and abilities in and development, and might be considerably less.
coaching and helping others to improve by guiding
and developing their performance. 6.
However, the argument in support of employee
Evidence from those who have participated in volunteering does not simply rest on a direct cost
running enterprise workshops reveals significant comparison with other forms of training and
skills development across a number of areas – development. It is important to consider the wider
particularly leadership, adaptability, teamworking benefits of volunteering as part of a company’s
and building relationships and networks. community investment activities.
The role of school governor is perhaps the most o This research has shown that, apart from
challenging volunteering activity considered in this developing new skills, the individual employee
research study and the one which delivers the most benefits from improved morale and increased
significant skills gain. Respondents particularly job satisfaction, motivation and commitment to
highlight their development in team working, the company as a direct result of the
influencing and negotiation skills. In addition, this opportunities afforded by their volunteering
type of volunteering activity is extremely useful for experience. In addition, volunteers assert that
developing hard business skills including financial they gain greatly from the opportunity to do
skills such as planning budgets; business awareness; something meaningful that helps others; and
and in developing technical and professional skills. that through this experience they feel better
about themselves and about the organisation
The most common volunteering activity, they work for.
reading, language and number partnering, was
o In addition, we know from previous research
particularly helpful in developing skills in the area
that there are many benefits accruing to the
of communication and influencing and also
business itself from a well managed community
negotiating.
investment programme. As well as the positive
impact on staff reported above, benefits
Supporting an education-related charity was
include building and maintaining the
particularly helpful in developing team working
company’s “licence to operate” and the
skills, building relationships and networks, and
advantages that accrue from improved brand
financial skills.
reputation.
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Volunteering – The Business Case
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Volunteering – The Business Case
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Acknowledgements
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Volunteering – The Business Case
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Appendices
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Appendix A –
Aviva UK Volunteer Research Results
Table 1
Personal Impact
… adaptability 5.2%(5) 8.3% (8) 33.3% (32) 42.7% (41) 10.4% (10)
… teamworking skills 11.7% (11) 9.5% (9) 18.0% (17) 44.6% (42) 15.9% (15)
… communication skills 3.1% (3) 6.1% (6) 16.4% (16) 54.6% (53) 19.5% (19)
… influencing / negotiating skills 15.4% (15) 13.4% (13) 13.4% (13) 47.4% (46) 10.3% (10)
… problem solving skills 16.8% (16) 13.6% (13) 25.2% (24) 33.6% (32) 10.5% (10)
… leadership skills 12.2% (11) 17.7% (16) 30.0% (27) 22.2% (20) 17.7% (16)
… planning & organisation skills 10.0% (10) 20.0% (20) 28.0% (28) 25.0% (25) 17% (17)
… decision making 15.2% (14) 23.9% (22) 23.9% (22) 26.0% (24) 10.8% (10)
… maximising performance of others 8.6% (8) 9.7% (9) 32.6% (30) 20.3% (27) 19.5% (18)
… financial skills 66.6% (58) 24.1% (21) 5.7% (5) 3.4% (3) 0
… customer focus 32.2% (29) 14.4% (13) 31.1% (28) 16.6% (15) 5.5% (5)
… excellence & continuous improvement 34.0% (30) 14.7% (13) 25.0% (22) 21.5% (19) 4.5% (4)
… business awareness 50.0% (44) 27.2% (24) 17.0% (15) 5.6% (5) 0
… technical / professional skills 53.4% (47) 23.8% (21) 14.7% (13) 7.9% (7) 0
Table 2
Personal Outlook on Aviva / job
… self confidence 0.9% (1) 5.9% (6) 55.4% (56) 32.6% (33) 4.9% (5)
… sense of well being and happiness 0 2.4% (2) 53.6% (44) 41.6% (34) 2.4% (2)
… understanding & empathy with people 0 2.8% (3) 49.0% (51) 45.1% (47) 2.8% (3)
… awareness of wider social issues 0 3.8% (4) 44.6% (46) 47.5% (49) 3.8% (4)
… job satisfaction 3.1% (3) 6.3% (6) 51.5% (49) 22.1% (21) 16.8% (16)
… pride in Aviva / my job 2.0% (2) 5.0% (5) 56.5% (56) 25.2% (25) 11.1% (11)
… commitment to Aviva 1.9% (2) 8.7% (9) 52.4% (54) 23.3% (24) 13.5% (14)
… motivation 1.0% (1) 9.3% (9) 53.1% (51) 29.1% (28) 7.2% (7)
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Table 3
Impact on behaviour
... undertake more volunteering 0 9.0% (9) 50.0% (50) 40.4% (40) 0
… recommend volunteering to a colleague 0 4.9% (5) 40.5% (41) 53.4% (54) 0.9% (1)
… talk positively about Aviva 0.9% (1) 4.9% (5) 52.9% (54) 29.4% (30) 11.7% (12)
Table 4
Impact on career development
… has helped me perform better in my job 1.2% (1) 20% (16) 43.7% (35) 13.7% (11) 21.2% (17)
… helps me apply for more senior roles 2.2% (2) 37.7% (34) 23.3% (21) 13.3% (12) 23.3% (21)
… has been / will be used in my review 5.8% (6) 25.4% (26) 39.2% (40) 12.7% (13) 16.6% (17)
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Appendix B –
Retrospective Survey
Objectives
What was the main driver behind you volunteering?
(select one from list)
Develop new skills
Give something back to society
Meet new people
Something different from usual day role
Encouraged to volunteer by colleague
Other
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Volunteering – The Business Case
b. Management effectiveness
The volunteering activity improved my…
(tick relevant descriptions)
leadership skills
planning & organisation skills
decision making
maximising performance of others
financial skills
2. Personal impact
Descriptions: Strongly Disagree Agree Strongly agree Not
disagree applicable
a. Personal
The volunteering activity improved my…
(tick relevant descriptions)
self-confidence
sense of well-being / happiness
understanding of & empathy with other people
awareness of wider social issues
b. Outlook on company/job
The volunteering activity increased my…
(tick relevant descriptions)
job satisfaction
commitment to the company
motivation
3. Impact on behaviour
Since the activity I am more likely to…
(tick relevant descriptions)
undertake more volunteering
recommend volunteering to a colleague
talk positively about the company
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Volunteering – The Business Case
5. Additional Information
Have you benefited in any other way from
the volunteering activity?
Yes
No
(if yes, write a brief description in this box)
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Appendix C –
Before and after survey
This research takes the form of two Volunteering opportunity description (select from list)
questionnaires with the same format – the first School governor
We anticipate that each of the questionnaires Date volunteering opportunity started (e.g. DD/MM/YYYY)
should take no longer than 10 minutes to
complete. The results that we collect will be
very useful in assessing volunteering Your details; in order to track your response when we survey you
learning and development through again in December, please provide your first name and surname in
volunteering- we also hope that these will be the boxes below. This information will be held in the strictest
confidence and is for research purposes only. Your name and
useful to you in monitoring the impact that
individual response will not be disclosed to your employer.
volunteering is having on your personal First name
development. All answers are strictly
confidential.
Surname
Objectives
What was the main driver behind you volunteering?
(select one from list)
Develop new skills
Give something back to society
Meet new people
Something different from usual day role
Encouraged to volunteer by colleague
Other
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Please answer the following questions by indicating your ability / skill level in the following
competencies.
For the following questions, please indicate your ability using a 1 – 10 scale. This should reflect your
current skill level and you will be asked again in December whether there has been any change to
this rating. 1 indicates minimal ability and 10 indicates a full understanding and ability in that area.
2. Job-related skills
b. Management effectiveness
leadership skills
planning & organisation skills
decision making and exercising judgement
helping others improve; guiding
and evaluating their performance
Financial skills; eg planning budgets
3. Personal attributes
a. Personal
self-confidence
sense of well-being / happiness
understanding of & empathy with other people
awareness of wider social issues
Job satisfaction
Pride in the company
Commitment to the company
Motivation
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Volunteering – The Business Case
4. Additional Information
Yes
No
(if yes, write a brief description in this box)
Do you anticipate the volunteering activity will benefit you in any other way/did
you anticipate that the volunteering would benefit you in any other way?
Yes
No
(if yes, write a brief description in this box)
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Appendix D –
Line Manager Survey
Many of your colleagues, some of whom report to you (your ‘reports’), have completed a survey
looking at the skills and competencies they have gained through volunteering.
This questionnaire seeks YOUR views on the potential of volunteering activities to help employees
develop skills and competencies.
In providing your responses, please think about the skills development you have observed in your
direct staff reports who you know have undertaken volunteering activities.
As far as possible, please try to assess the skills gain that you think can be directly attributed to the
learning and development employees have experienced through volunteering.
We would be very grateful if you could please take a moment to answer the questions below.
EXAMPLE RESPONSE:
Think about the number of staff who report to you that you know have been involved in volunteering in education programmes.
How many people and to what extent, did they develop skills in the following areas:
Example: I have 15 people who report to me that have been involved in volunteering in education programmes. They have developed skills as
follows:
Teamworking skills 2 5 5 3
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Thinking about the staff who report to me that have been involved
in volunteering in education programmes, I believe the following
number of people have developed skills to the following extent in
these areas:
Adaptability;
Teamworking skills
Communication skills
Leadership skills
Business awareness
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Volunteering – The Business Case
4. Additional Information
Overall, do you feel that the experience gained by volunteers
helps them to develop skills and competencies that are useful to
your business?
Yes
No
Are there any aspects of employee volunteering that are NOT helpful for the business?
(If yes, please write a brief description in the box)
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Appendix E –
Skills Developed Through Specific
Volunteering Activities
Table 1
Reading / language / number partners
… teamworking skills 33.0% (66) 23.0% (46) 27.0% (54) 6.5% (13) 10.5% (21) 200
… communication skills 10.0% (20) 26.4% (53) 42.8% (86) 17.9% (36) 3.0% (6) 201
… influencing / negotiation skills 28.5% (57) 23.5% (47) 26.5% (53) 10.5% (21) 11.0% (22) 200
… problem solving skills 34.5% (69) 19.5% (39) 26.5% (53) 8.0% (16) 11.5% (23) 200
… leadership skills 36.3% (73) 17.4% (35) 25.9% (52) 8.0% (16) 12.4% (25) 201
… planning & organisation skills 37.0% (74) 22.0% (44) 25.5% (51) 7.5% (15) 8.0% (16) 200
… financial skills; e.g. planning budgets 57.5% (115) 2.5% (5) 5.0% (10) 1.0% (2) 34.0% (68) 200
… building relationships and networks 23.5% (47) 31.0% (62) 30.0% (60) 10.0% (20) 5.5% (11) 200
… willingness to continually improve 28.5% (57) 24.0% (48) 33.0% (66) 8.5% (17) 6.0% (12) 200
… business awareness 52.2% (105) 9.0% (18) 10.4% (21) 0.5% (1) 27.9% (56) 201
… technical / professional skills 51.0% (102) 11.5% (23) 12.5% (25) 0.5% (1) 24.5% (49) 200
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Table 2
Student Mentoring
… teamworking skills 24.7% (22) 25.8% (23) 34.8% (31) 6.7% (6) 7.9% (7) 89
… communication skills 7.9% (7) 16.9% (15) 56.2% (50) 16.9% (15) 2.2% (2) 89
… influencing / negotiation skills 20.5% (18) 21.6% (19) 40.9% (36) 12.5% (11) 4.5% (4) 88
… problem solving skills 27.0% (24) 24.7% (22) 32.6% (29) 10.1% (9) 5.6% (5) 89
… leadership skills 24.7% (22) 22.5% (20) 37.1% (33) 7.9% (7) 7.9% (7) 89
… planning & organisation skills 21.3% (19) 23.6% (21) 34.8% (31) 12.4% (11) 7.9% (7) 89
… financial skills; e.g. planning budgets 57.3% (51) 12.4% (11) 2.2% (2) 0.0% (0) 28.1% (25) 89
… building relationships and networks 21.3% (19) 19.1% (17) 31.5% (28) 11.2% (10) 16.9% (15) 89
… willingness to continually improve 21.3% (19) 24.7% (22) 33.7% (30) 9.0% (8) 11.2% (10) 89
… business awareness 44.9% (40) 12.4% (11) 12.4% (11) 1.1% (1) 29.2% (26) 89
… technical / professional skills 41.6% (37) 9.0% (8) 14.6% (13) 7.9% (7) 27.0% (24) 89
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Table 3
Enterprise Workshops
… teamworking skills 10.7% (6) 30.4% (17) 30.4% (17) 25.0% (14) 3.6% (2) 56
… communication skills 3.6% (2) 17.9% (10) 50.0% (28) 25.0% (14) 3.6% (2) 56
… influencing / negotiation skills 17.5% (10) 21.1% (12) 40.4% (23) 14.0% (8) 7.0% (4) 57
… problem solving skills 17.5% (10) 31.6% (18) 35.1% (20) 10.5% (6) 5.3% (3) 57
… leadership skills 19.3% (11) 17.5% (10) 36.8% (21) 21.1% (12) 5.3% (3) 57
… planning & organisation skills 24.6% (14) 19.3% (11) 31.6% (18) 19.3% (11) 5.3% (3) 57
… financial skills; e.g. planning budgets 49.1% (28) 14.0% (8) 10.5% (6) 1.8% (1) 24.6% (14) 57
… building relationships and networks 15.8% (9) 22.8% (13) 42.1% (24) 8.8% (5) 10.5% (6) 57
… willingness to continually improve 14.0% (8) 26.3% (15) 36.8% (21) 15.8% (9) 7.0% (4) 57
… business awareness 40.4% (23) 24.6% (14) 19.3% (11) 3.5% (2) 12.3% (7) 57
… technical / professional skills 38.6% (22) 24.6% (14) 22.8% (13) 3.5% (2) 10.5% (6) 57
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Volunteering – The Business Case
Table 4
Supporting an Education Related Charity
… teamworking skills 27.8% (15) 14.8% (8) 37.0% (20) 14.8% (8) 5.6% (3) 54
… communication skills 13.0% (7) 20.4% (11) 51.9% (28) 13.0% (7) 1.9% (1) 54
… influencing / negotiation skills 33.3% (18) 24.1% (13) 25.9% (14) 13.0% (7) 3.7% (2) 54
… problem solving skills 31.5% (17) 20.4% (11) 24.1% (13) 13.0% (7) 11.1% (6) 54
… leadership skills 24.1% (13) 24.1% (13) 27.8% (15) 14.8% (8) 9.3% (5) 54
… planning & organisation skills 24.1% (13) 25.9% (14) 25.9% (14) 18.5% (10) 5.6% (3) 54
… financial skills; e.g. planning budgets 50.0% (27) 14.8% (8) 16.7% (9) 3.7% (2) 14.8% (8) 54
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Table 5
School Governors
… teamworking skills 10.4% (5) 18.8% (9) 54.2% (26) 16.7% (8) 0.0% (0) 48
… communication skills 6.3% (3) 18.8% (9) 45.8% (22) 29.2% (14) 0.0% (0) 48
… influencing / negotiation skills 12.2% (6) 20.4% (10) 46.9% (23) 20.4% (10) 0.0% (0) 49
… problem solving skills 20.4% (10) 24.5% (12) 38.8% (19) 16.3% (8) 0.0% (0) 49
… leadership skills 18.4% (9) 32.7% (16) 32.7% (16) 16.3% (8) 0.0% (0) 49
… planning & organisation skills 22.4% (11) 30.6% (15) 32.7% (16) 14.3% (7) 0.0% (0) 49
… financial skills; e.g. planning budgets 42.9% (21) 14.3% (7) 26.5% (13) 12.2% (6) 4.1% (2) 49
… building relationships and networks 20.4% (10) 36.7% (18) 24.5% (12) 8.2% (4) 10.2% (5) 49
… willingness to continually improve 22.4% (11) 32.7% (16) 28.6% (14) 12.2% (6) 4.1% (2) 49
… business awareness 22.4% (11) 32.7% (16) 24.5% (12) 8.2% (4) 12.2% (6) 49
… technical / professional skills 34.7% (17) 22.4% (11) 30.6% (15) 2.0% (1) 10.2% (5) 49
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The City of London Corporation